Weekend update 06/15/15

I went over to Seattle Pottery Supply and picked up some clay, glazes and supplies for the kiln. The clay itself was relatively inexpensive (less than $9 for 25 lb bag). I did a couple of pieces and if all goes well, I'll be firing up my kiln soon. I'm trying to decide whether to make more than a couple pieces for my initial bisque firing, or stay with just a few. For now, I created a tall and short octopus pot, plus a few eyeballs, teeth and claws for using in creating a polymer armature piece. The waiting is the hardest part and I have to wait until the clay is thoroughly dry before popping them in the kiln for bisque firing.
I had a bit of a discussion about my gas kiln; the guy at SPS suggested that the cone 6 glaze was meant for electric ilns and not meant for gas kilns. He kept going back to 'reduction', which from what I understand is what you do when you fire to cone 10. I think the SPS guy assumed that because I had a gas kiln, I was interested in just doing reduction firing. His point was that if I purchase cone 6 glaze and try reduction on it, there's no telling what will happen. He has a good point but that's not what I'm trying to do. For now I don't really want to fire to cone 10. I don't want reduction firing. Until I get myself familiar with my kiln, I want to stick to relatively low fire, like cone 6. Without reduction. In other words, treat my gas kiln pretty much like an electric kiln.
So let's talk about what's going on in the garden -
Crabs:
Deer munched my crabs! They were doing so well, getting green and starting to put out a bit of growth. We relocated them to the side of the house and they were getting more water, which they liked. Then the deer came by and chomped them down to stumps... arg! Oh well. We'll see if they recover.
Andromeda:
They're starting to show new growth from my recent drastic pruning.
The maples seem to be growing good. Nothing new to report.
Aaron's Garden:
Planted some squash (castilla, hubbard, acorn), garlic, beans, and bok choy. Everything's growing good so far.